Okay, for the many of you who I talked into registering to nominate/vote for the Hugos with my relentless onslaught of sad puppies, by now you should have received an email with your PINs for voting. (I just got mine last night).

Now, obviously I want everybody to vote for what they think is the best in each category. I’m not going to tell anybody what to do. If you think some particular book/story is absolutely amazing, then put it up.

What I would like to do with this post is have all of you post in the comments about what you think was totally awesome which came out in 2012. Tell us why you think some work should be nominated.

I’ll post my actual list once I get it filled in.

I am voting for Monster Hunter Legion for best novel, because I am selfish and entirely motivated by spite. :)

I am voting for Elitist Book Reviews for Best Fanzine, because I’m sick and tired of jerk face snob reviewers.

I’m voting for Schlock Mercenary in graphic works. (I have to check Howard’s blog to see what eligible 2012 book title was). This is a killer hard category, but I’ve been reading this comic every day for 12 YEARS and it has gotten better and better, with an excellent overall story. EDIT: The 2012 eligable book was Random Access Memorabilia.

I need to figure out what category Writing Excuses Podcast fits in, because they keep getting nominated, they’re all my friends, they’re awesome, but they keep running up against some unstoppable Dr. Who juggernaut every year.

EDIT: For artist, I can’t believe I forgot Vincent Chong. It is because he does the covers of my French novels, so mentally I was thinking those don’t count, but they totally do. The Hugo isn’t limited to America. Duh. The French Hard Magic cover was one of the coolest book covers I’ve ever seen and it came out in 2012.

Short stories/novellas, I’m still thinking about, because there are some really good ones. Here is a link to all of the Baen eligable works: http://larrycorreia.wordpress.com/2013/02/13/hugo-nominating/ And if you look those up, check out Gray Rinehart. Baen’s slushmaster general who has some eligable works.

So post below and let’s discuss. What do you think were the best works. Best cover artist? Best editor? Toni Weiskopf and Jim Minz, obviously. Best movie? Best TV show?

Obviously I would absolutely LOVE for Elitist Book Reviews just to be nominated for the Hugo this year. We deserve it, and we want to help even more people find the best books across all genres to read.

…and making heads explode on the snobbish literati is a perk.

Some additional suggestions for the voting masses:

I think a vote for Brandon Sanderson’s Emperor’s Soul for Best Novella is a worthy vote. It is some of the best writing he has ever done.

Jeff Salyards for the John W Campbell award for best new author (Larry was nominated for this 2 years ago).

The Coldest War by Ian Tregillis for Best Novel to go along with Larry’s.

Writing Excuses for Best Related Work. Unfortunately that’s where it fits.

Vincent Chong for Best Professional Artist (come on, you all seen the work he’s done for Larry…Chong is freaking unreal).

Best Novelette – well, this is a tad selfish, but the piece of short fiction Larry and I co-wrote is eligible. “That Which We Fear” in The Crimson Pact Vol 3.

I don’t know what all your literary tendencies are, but you can go by my blog, Elitist Book Reviews, and pull up the Best of 2012 post to get some ideas of what my reviewers and I felt were the best.

First is the nominating process. They tally up the nominations and come up with the five finalists in every category. Then the swag is sent out to all the voters to go over, then they vote in each category between those five. The winner is announced at WorldCon.

And not sure what category it would fall into, but AAL’s new Star One album, “Victims of the Modern Age,” is a positive yes in my nomination. Progressive* metal + classic sci-fi (Planet of the Apes, Clockwork Orange, Matrix, Logan’s Run, and more) = total win!
*Progressive in music terms has nothing to do with politics, it basically means a mashing-up of styles, instruments, and the like, often ones not typically associated with that genre.

There’s not really a ‘Best TV’ category. Just shorter than 60 minutes or longer, I think. Mark Reads Shadow War of the Night Dragons will be getting my nomination, because there’s one thing we have to do, which is not take all this seriously.

Yeah I’ve been trying to decide which eligible episode was my favorite. I’m one of the apparent minority that really enjoyed season 2. “Killer Within” is one of my favorites, but I also really enjoyed the Season 2 finale “Beside the Dying Fire” so it’s hard to decide.

Ok, I’m nominating Legion for the puppies the children etc. but now I’ve started my own campaign to nominate Hank Reinhardt’s Book Of Knives: A Practical and Illustrated Guide to Knife Fighting .
Why?
Because I can’t nominate him for 40+ years of bringing live sword demos to science fiction cons. And I can’t nominate him for launching the modern sword industry and thus the WMA movement as well changing the way authors everywhere write about edged weapons. And I can’t nominate him for making Kukri a household word and thus indirectly encouraging Owen Pitt to carry one. Because I can’t nominate him for being the real world model for Ringo’s Edmund Talbot.